August 29, 2025 • 10 mins
I speak to Dr. Kirk Noel Garratt, Medical Director of the Center for Heart and Vascular Health at ChristianaCare and former president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. A nationally recognized leader in interventional cardiology, Dr. Garratt shares his insights on prevention, education, and equity in cardiovascular care—and invites listeners to the 2025 Wilmington Heart Walk, happening Sunday, September 7 at Tubman Garrett Riverfront Park.
Event Details: 🗓 Date: Sunday, September 7, 2025
📍 Location: Tubman Garrett Riverfront Park, Wilmington, DE
🕗 8:00 AM: Event Opens | 🚶 9:30 AM: Walk Begins
🔗 Register: heart.org/wilmingtonwalkSocial Media: 📱 Instagram & X: @American_Heart
📘 Facebook: @AmericanHeart
🧠 Hashtag: #WilmingtonHeartWalk #HeartWalkDE #CPRSavesLives
Event Details: 🗓 Date: Sunday, September 7, 2025
📍 Location: Tubman Garrett Riverfront Park, Wilmington, DE
🕗 8:00 AM: Event Opens | 🚶 9:30 AM: Walk Begins
🔗 Register: heart.org/wilmingtonwalkSocial Media: 📱 Instagram & X: @American_Heart
📘 Facebook: @AmericanHeart
🧠 Hashtag: #WilmingtonHeartWalk #HeartWalkDE #CPRSavesLives
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrell. We're going to tell
you about the inaugural Germantown Avenue Food Truck Festival. We'll
check in with an organization called It Takes a Village
to Feed One Child on fighting food and security. I
have a very inspiring chat with Walter Pryor about his
(00:20):
moving memoir. This leaves me okay, and we'll talk about
a great family festival, Feria del Barrio. But first today
we're joined by doctor Kirk Noel Garrett, medical director of
the Center for Heart and Vascular Health at Christiana Care
and former President of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.
(00:41):
That's a mouthful with a career spanning many decades of innovation,
research and leadership in cardiology. Doctor Garrett is a passionate
advocate for prevention, education and equity in cardiovascular care. He's
lending his voice and expertise to support the twenty twenty
five Wilmington Heart Walk, happening Sunday, September seventh at Tubman
gret Reverfront Park. A beautiful park to have such a
(01:03):
wonderful walk it's a powerful event advancing the life saving
mission of the American Heart Association. Well, we'll begin doctor
Garrett with this question. With your deep background in interventional cardiology,
why is the Wilmington Heart Walk especially meaningful to you,
both personally and professionally.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, thanks, Rayin, It's really a privilege to spend time
with you. This event in Wilmington is important to me
personally because of all the cardiac problems that you can have,
of all the things that can go wrong with a
heart or a cardiovascular system. It remains true that in
America today, heart attacks, that is, blockages of the blood
(01:41):
vessels that provide nutrient to the heart muscle, continue to
be a leading problem and a leading cause of death
among Americans. Although the Heart Walk isn't focused solely on
that problem, I can say with certainty that the majority
of people that come out and walk are doing so
because they have had a personal experience with this kind
(02:01):
of heart problem. And I'm no exception. My mother died
of a sudden cardiac death while I was away, and
although I didn't go into medicine or cardiology because of
that event, that event underscored to me personally how important
it is that we pay attention to the things that
can keep our hearts healthy, with special emphasis right now
(02:21):
on those things that cause blockages of heart arteries and
lead to heart attacks and death.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You mentioned your mom, and I'm very sorry for your loss,
and I think that's something that people don't know or
are not as aware of as perhaps they should be.
Is it. Heart disease is actually I think the number
one cause of death for women, And that's something that
we don't tend to think of because we're always stuck
with that image of men clutching their arm or their
chest and sort of the typical thinking that men are
more likely or liable to have heart attacks than women.
(02:49):
But that's just not the case, and it also presents
itself differently in women than men.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Right, That's absolutely right, and it remains a huge challenge.
You know, we've been talking about this issue of women
being under recognized as being at risk for a long
time now, but I feel that we just haven't gotten
the message through as effectively as we need. If you
were to stop any person on the street, man or
woman and ask what's the leading cause of death among men,
(03:14):
I think they would say probably heart disease and if
you ask, well, what's the leading cause of death among women, Well,
maybe breast cancer, maybe some I don't know, gynecologic problem. No,
it's heart disease. And the same things that cause heart
disease in men cause heart disease in women. So in
many ways it simplifies our work here. We just need
to get people aware of the fact that lack of exercise,
(03:37):
tobacco exposure, poor dietary choices, allowing medical conditions like hypertension
and diabetes to go unchecked is the leading causes of
the leading disease in America that causes death in both
men and in women.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, it's so important to raise awareness, especially for women
because oftentimes the symptoms can be very different for women
than for men. Now you've said that this walk is
more than just a community event. It is a movement,
and what kind of impact can it make across Delaware
and beyond.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Right, Well, let's not forget that we live in a very,
very complex community. We live in a complex healthcare ecosystem
that's tangled up more than ever in the way that
our political leaders behave. I started engaging in the American
Heart Association Heart Walk as a way of displaying publicly
to my community, my personal commitment to leading change that
(04:32):
will empower and improve the health of community members. More
and more, though, I think of it now as a
public display that goes beyond just the community and makes
visible to our local leaders and through them, our state
and national leaders, the importance of providing support for the
work that needs to get done to keep Americans healthy.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
The American Hawk Association is focused on building a nation
of life savers. What is CPR awareness and education and
why is it such a critical part of this year's walk.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Thanks so much for asking that question, because the American
Heart Association has done so much over the years to
improve health, largely through funding research projects that helped us
understand what were the causes behind all these bad events
happening so that we could develop preventive therapies, medications, surgical techniques,
and the like. Now, of course, American Heart Association is
(05:24):
also very deeply involved in public education, and that starts
at the schools with training programs that orient young kids
and young adults to how their personal choices can impact
their cardiovascular health and risk, and recently that has grown
into a training program an initiative sponsored by the American
(05:47):
Heart Association to help folks know what to do if
they run across someone who has suddenly sustained a cardiac arrest.
Part of that is learning how to do CPR bystander CPR,
and there is a mouth free CPR technique that can
keep someone alive until medical personnel can arrive. That's been
enormously important in helping us save lives. And then of
(06:10):
course learning how to use these automated external defibrillators another mouthful.
I know, I'm sorry, but these AED devices are basically
those shocking tools that can correct a heart rhythm if
it's gone out of whack, and it's a life saving
therapy that can be available to everyone in the community.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
We were delighted at iHeart to host a couple of
years ago CPR training and it was really interesting because
I didn't realize how hard I had to go in
to do the thing properly. You really need to do
hands on. You can't really tell somebody how to do CPR.
You actually have to practice it right. You have to
really get the feel.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
For it that's right. And that's why an agency like
AHA is such an important partner here. Just telling you
how to do it would be helpful. You then have
an understanding of what that involves. But as you've just said,
until you actually do it, you don't really have a
sense of just how do I do? I push hard?
Am I pushing too hard? Is it not hard enough?
And make no mistake, a CPR that's not done correctly
(07:06):
and is ineffective doesn't work. It's not going to keep
that poor, unfortunate person going until help can arrive. So
the AHA has gone out with models that not only
allow you to put your hands on plastic human being
and practice this, but they also have tricks and techniques
to help you remember how hard to push you know,
what tempo do you use? How fast do you go?
(07:27):
Super super effective? And we're really lucky to have them
in the community doing this work.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Now, let's talk about disparities in CPR response,
especially for black and brown adults. How do events like
this help address those inequities? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You know, this has obviously become a little more complicated recently,
but the fact remains that if you look at communities
rich in black and brown skinned people, you will often
find heightened rates of not just heart disease, but those
underpinnings of heart disease, those conditions, those chronic problems like
(08:05):
hypertension and diabetes that ultimately lead to strokes and heart attacks.
It's very important, then, if we're serious about moving the
needle on this and saving lives, that we not just
empower people to be effective bystanders, and not just create
more effective tools for doctors and the teams that work
with them to care for people in a crisis. We
(08:26):
have to get upstream. We have to help people understand
the things that will contribute to their heart disease and
help them be informed in a manner that leads to
better choices regarding tobacco exposure, exercise, food choices, management of
their chronic conditions. And to say that that's not a
problem among our black and brown community members would be
(08:49):
unfair and untrue. It's not a problem that's unique to
those individuals, but it is a problem that impacts them
to a greater degree than others. I think it's fair
and important that we want toward that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
For those who are thinking about joining this walk, what
would you say to encourage them to register walk and
support this cause.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, it's very easy to do. Go ahead and register
at the AHA website. That would be lovely, but golly,
you don't have to. Just come down on September seventh,
sometime around eight eight thirty in the morning, sun's going
to be up. There's always a great crowd, and then
right about nine thirty the alarm will sound and we'll
(09:27):
all begin walking, a lovely, lovely, easy walk along the
riverfront there in the Wilmington community.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Very important event again, it's the twenty twenty five Wilmington
Heart Walk Sunday, September seventh at the Tubman Garrett Riverfront Park.
A powerful event advancing the life saving mission of the
American Heart Association. The event opens up at eight o'clock
and the walk begins at nine point thirty. For more information,
you can go to heart dot org slash Wilmington Walk.
(09:55):
Doctor Kirk Noel Garrett, medical director of the Center for
Heart and Vascular Health Christiana Care, former President of the
Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and I have to say,
Doctor Garrett, your bedside manner, your calm voice, You've got
that great bedside manner and such an important message to
share with all of our listeners. So thank you so
(10:16):
much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thank you, thank you for having me, Laurie.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
We'll have more insight after these messages.
Good morning, and welcome to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrell. We're going to tell
you about the inaugural Germantown Avenue Food Truck Festival. We'll
check in with an organization called It Takes a Village
to Feed One Child on fighting food and security. I
have a very inspiring chat with Walter Pryor about his
(00:20):
moving memoir. This leaves me okay, and we'll talk about
a great family festival, Feria del Barrio. But first today
we're joined by doctor Kirk Noel Garrett, medical director of
the Center for Heart and Vascular Health at Christiana Care
and former President of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.
(00:41):
That's a mouthful with a career spanning many decades of innovation,
research and leadership in cardiology. Doctor Garrett is a passionate
advocate for prevention, education and equity in cardiovascular care. He's
lending his voice and expertise to support the twenty twenty
five Wilmington Heart Walk, happening Sunday, September seventh at Tubman
gret Reverfront Park. A beautiful park to have such a
(01:03):
wonderful walk it's a powerful event advancing the life saving
mission of the American Heart Association. Well, we'll begin doctor
Garrett with this question. With your deep background in interventional cardiology,
why is the Wilmington Heart Walk especially meaningful to you,
both personally and professionally.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, thanks, Rayin, It's really a privilege to spend time
with you. This event in Wilmington is important to me
personally because of all the cardiac problems that you can have,
of all the things that can go wrong with a
heart or a cardiovascular system. It remains true that in
America today, heart attacks, that is, blockages of the blood
(01:41):
vessels that provide nutrient to the heart muscle, continue to
be a leading problem and a leading cause of death
among Americans. Although the Heart Walk isn't focused solely on
that problem, I can say with certainty that the majority
of people that come out and walk are doing so
because they have had a personal experience with this kind
(02:01):
of heart problem. And I'm no exception. My mother died
of a sudden cardiac death while I was away, and
although I didn't go into medicine or cardiology because of
that event, that event underscored to me personally how important
it is that we pay attention to the things that
can keep our hearts healthy, with special emphasis right now
(02:21):
on those things that cause blockages of heart arteries and
lead to heart attacks and death.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You mentioned your mom, and I'm very sorry for your loss,
and I think that's something that people don't know or
are not as aware of as perhaps they should be.
Is it. Heart disease is actually I think the number
one cause of death for women, And that's something that
we don't tend to think of because we're always stuck
with that image of men clutching their arm or their
chest and sort of the typical thinking that men are
more likely or liable to have heart attacks than women.
(02:49):
But that's just not the case, and it also presents
itself differently in women than men.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Right, That's absolutely right, and it remains a huge challenge.
You know, we've been talking about this issue of women
being under recognized as being at risk for a long
time now, but I feel that we just haven't gotten
the message through as effectively as we need. If you
were to stop any person on the street, man or
woman and ask what's the leading cause of death among men,
(03:14):
I think they would say probably heart disease and if
you ask, well, what's the leading cause of death among women, Well,
maybe breast cancer, maybe some I don't know, gynecologic problem. No,
it's heart disease. And the same things that cause heart
disease in men cause heart disease in women. So in
many ways it simplifies our work here. We just need
to get people aware of the fact that lack of exercise,
(03:37):
tobacco exposure, poor dietary choices, allowing medical conditions like hypertension
and diabetes to go unchecked is the leading causes of
the leading disease in America that causes death in both
men and in women.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, it's so important to raise awareness, especially for women
because oftentimes the symptoms can be very different for women
than for men. Now you've said that this walk is
more than just a community event. It is a movement,
and what kind of impact can it make across Delaware
and beyond.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Right, Well, let's not forget that we live in a very,
very complex community. We live in a complex healthcare ecosystem
that's tangled up more than ever in the way that
our political leaders behave. I started engaging in the American
Heart Association Heart Walk as a way of displaying publicly
to my community, my personal commitment to leading change that
(04:32):
will empower and improve the health of community members. More
and more, though, I think of it now as a
public display that goes beyond just the community and makes
visible to our local leaders and through them, our state
and national leaders, the importance of providing support for the
work that needs to get done to keep Americans healthy.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
The American Hawk Association is focused on building a nation
of life savers. What is CPR awareness and education and
why is it such a critical part of this year's walk.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Thanks so much for asking that question, because the American
Heart Association has done so much over the years to
improve health, largely through funding research projects that helped us
understand what were the causes behind all these bad events
happening so that we could develop preventive therapies, medications, surgical techniques,
and the like. Now, of course, American Heart Association is
(05:24):
also very deeply involved in public education, and that starts
at the schools with training programs that orient young kids
and young adults to how their personal choices can impact
their cardiovascular health and risk, and recently that has grown
into a training program an initiative sponsored by the American
(05:47):
Heart Association to help folks know what to do if
they run across someone who has suddenly sustained a cardiac arrest.
Part of that is learning how to do CPR bystander CPR,
and there is a mouth free CPR technique that can
keep someone alive until medical personnel can arrive. That's been
enormously important in helping us save lives. And then of
(06:10):
course learning how to use these automated external defibrillators another mouthful.
I know, I'm sorry, but these AED devices are basically
those shocking tools that can correct a heart rhythm if
it's gone out of whack, and it's a life saving
therapy that can be available to everyone in the community.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
We were delighted at iHeart to host a couple of
years ago CPR training and it was really interesting because
I didn't realize how hard I had to go in
to do the thing properly. You really need to do
hands on. You can't really tell somebody how to do CPR.
You actually have to practice it right. You have to
really get the feel.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
For it that's right. And that's why an agency like
AHA is such an important partner here. Just telling you
how to do it would be helpful. You then have
an understanding of what that involves. But as you've just said,
until you actually do it, you don't really have a
sense of just how do I do? I push hard?
Am I pushing too hard? Is it not hard enough?
And make no mistake, a CPR that's not done correctly
(07:06):
and is ineffective doesn't work. It's not going to keep
that poor, unfortunate person going until help can arrive. So
the AHA has gone out with models that not only
allow you to put your hands on plastic human being
and practice this, but they also have tricks and techniques
to help you remember how hard to push you know,
what tempo do you use? How fast do you go?
(07:27):
Super super effective? And we're really lucky to have them
in the community doing this work.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Now, let's talk about disparities in CPR response,
especially for black and brown adults. How do events like
this help address those inequities? Right?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You know, this has obviously become a little more complicated recently,
but the fact remains that if you look at communities
rich in black and brown skinned people, you will often
find heightened rates of not just heart disease, but those
underpinnings of heart disease, those conditions, those chronic problems like
(08:05):
hypertension and diabetes that ultimately lead to strokes and heart attacks.
It's very important, then, if we're serious about moving the
needle on this and saving lives, that we not just
empower people to be effective bystanders, and not just create
more effective tools for doctors and the teams that work
with them to care for people in a crisis. We
(08:26):
have to get upstream. We have to help people understand
the things that will contribute to their heart disease and
help them be informed in a manner that leads to
better choices regarding tobacco exposure, exercise, food choices, management of
their chronic conditions. And to say that that's not a
problem among our black and brown community members would be
(08:49):
unfair and untrue. It's not a problem that's unique to
those individuals, but it is a problem that impacts them
to a greater degree than others. I think it's fair
and important that we want toward that.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
For those who are thinking about joining this walk, what
would you say to encourage them to register walk and
support this cause.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, it's very easy to do. Go ahead and register
at the AHA website. That would be lovely, but golly,
you don't have to. Just come down on September seventh,
sometime around eight eight thirty in the morning, sun's going
to be up. There's always a great crowd, and then
right about nine thirty the alarm will sound and we'll
(09:27):
all begin walking, a lovely, lovely, easy walk along the
riverfront there in the Wilmington community.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Very important event again, it's the twenty twenty five Wilmington
Heart Walk Sunday, September seventh at the Tubman Garrett Riverfront Park.
A powerful event advancing the life saving mission of the
American Heart Association. The event opens up at eight o'clock
and the walk begins at nine point thirty. For more information,
you can go to heart dot org slash Wilmington Walk.
(09:55):
Doctor Kirk Noel Garrett, medical director of the Center for
Heart and Vascular Health Christiana Care, former President of the
Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and I have to say,
Doctor Garrett, your bedside manner, your calm voice, You've got
that great bedside manner and such an important message to
share with all of our listeners. So thank you so
(10:16):
much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Thank you, thank you for having me, Laurie.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
We'll have more insight after these messages.
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